Kyiv calls on international community to increase pressure on Russia to release Ukrainian sailors

Monday, June 3, 2019 8:00:18 AM

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin reported on his Twitter that the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine "submitted a request and called on all Foreign Ministers from the friendly and partner countries to put pressure on Russia to implement the decision of the International Tribunal in Hamburg." Earlier International Tribunal ordered Russian authorities to release Ukrainian sailors.

Klimkin believes that Ukraine should do "everything possible through political channels and National Maritime administrations" to resolve this issue.

On November 25, 2018, Russian Armed Forces captured three Ukrainian warships in the neutral waters of the Black Sea. The crew of two boats and a tug (24 people in total) was taken to Simferopol, where a Russian-controlled court arrested all Ukrainians. The next day the sailors were transported to Moscow, where they remain to this day.

On May 25, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea of the United Nations ordered Russia to release all Ukrainian sailors who were taken prisoners in November 2018 and return the three ships to Ukraine. Russia stated that it would not comply with the requirements of the International Tribunal.

In the evening of the same day, the Moscow City Court reviewed the appeals of Ukrainian sailors and rejected them. The court decided that all the Ukrainian sailors should remain in custody until the end of July.